John David Dyche | Paducah boasts a rich past and promising future

This column is not about politics, of which there will be plenty today. It is about Paducah, which adorns the bank of the broad Ohio River at its confluence with the Tennessee in far Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region.

Grace Episcopal Church is a great place to begin. Majestic trees swaddle the dark brick Gothic sanctuary. Peace is a palpable presence within and without.

Across the street, the rough stone Broadway Methodist Church stands like a mighty fortress. A historical marker notes that Paducah's two most famous sons, former Vice President Alben Barkley and humorist Irvin S. Cobb, worshipped there. Paducah boasts more of these informative bronze tablets per capita than any Kentucky city, and they tell a fascinating tale.

One quotes Barkley in words still true: "Paducah is a town with a distinct flavor. It was and is a good place, an interesting place, in which to live." The sign's reverse carries Cobb's fond description:

"Here in Paducah one encounters, I claim, an agreeable blend of Western kindliness, and Northern enterprises, superimposed upon a Southern background. Here, I claim, more chickens are fried, more hot biscuits are eaten, more corn pone is consumed, and more genuine hospitality is offered than in any town of like size in the commonwealth."

It is Kentucky's only major city with an Indian name, bestowed in honor of Chickasaw Chief Paduke by Gen. William Clark, of expeditionary fame. Clark platted the town in 1827 after buying the site for $5 from the estate of his brother, George Rogers. The central streets in this strategically situated town bear the names of the presidents through that time - Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.

Along those avenues sprang up houses of worship representing almost every American religious denomination. But Paducah's story features a long and colorful chapter of war before the late 19th century construction of the architecturally striking churches that dot the downtown.

The general who would ultimately win the Civil War for the Union and become president won his first victories around Paducah. On Sept. 6, 1861, Ulysses S. Grant proclaimed to Paducah's citizens that his army was occupying the city "to defend you" against attack by the Confederate "enemy" that had planted his guns at nearby Mississippi River towns.

Paducahans had been flying a large Confederate flag to welcome the rebels. Under fire from Grant's gunboats, Emily Jarrett, whose husband and sons were Confederate soldiers, had a slave boy climb the pole and drop the flag to her. Union troops searched her home, but did not find the flag, which was later laid to rest with its rescuer.

Union forces held Paducah for the war's duration. Grant won victories at nearby Forts Henry and Donelson despite the resistance of Lloyd Tilghman, a railroad executive and soldier then new to Paducah. His Greek Revival home is now a museum highlighting Western Ken­tucky's role in the war. Tilghman perished near Vicksburg in 1863, but a 1909 statue of him stands in Lang Park, and the local high school, originally built on a site donated by his heirs, bears his name.

Back along Broadway, a building bears the high-water marks of big floods, including the mind-boggling 1937 deluge. A flood wall now protects the downtown and tells Paducah's story section-by-section on a magnificent mural. Nearby are an old locomotive (honoring Paducah's role as a railroad city as well as a river one), the National Quilt Museum (lovelier inside than out), the dazzling Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center for performing arts (named for the city's pioneering Coca-Cola bottler), and the fashionably funky Lower Town Arts District (replete with galleries, lofts, restaurants and shops).

Paducah was once known as "the Atomic City" for its uranium enrichment plant that flourished during the Cold War. Now, like many Kentucky towns in transition, it seeks a new identity in a new modernity. The economic downturn has slowed downtown redevelopment's momentum somewhat, but the core city's considerable potential is apparent.

Merger of the Paducah and McCracken County governments is on the local ballot today, and the outcome will obviously influence the way this remarkable community grows. Paducah's pace may seem slow, even languid, like the river currents flowing past while the city sits poised between its rich past and its yet-to-be determined future. But there is still a lot of energy there in all sorts of ways.

Louisville, Kentucky • Southern Indiana

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John David Dyche | Paducah boasts a rich past and promising future

This column is not about politics, of which there will be plenty today. It is about Paducah, which adorns the bank of the broad Ohio River at its confluence with the Tennessee in far Western